Articulatory Phonetics Consonants · 2020-03-18 · , unlike consonants, vowels are produced...
Transcript of Articulatory Phonetics Consonants · 2020-03-18 · , unlike consonants, vowels are produced...
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Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdallah University
Faculty of Letters & Human Sciences
English Studies
Modular Degree Program
Intro 2 Lx
Prof. Belfakir
Articulatory Phonetics Speech sounds are commonly divided into two groups: vowels and consonants. Vowels
are produced with a relatively open vocal tract; no significant constriction of the oral (and
pharyngeal) cavities exists. The airstream from the vocal folds to the lips is relatively
unobstructed. Therefore, vowels are considered to be unrestricted sound. That’s why, while
articulating vowels, they can be maintained for a longer time than consonants. In contrast,
consonants are produced with a significant constriction in the vocal tract during their production.
For consonants, the airstream, along its way from the vocal folds to the oral and nasal cavities,
encounters some type of articulatory modification (obstruction). Therefore, consonants are
considered to be constricted sounds.
Consonants Producing a consonant involves making the vocal tract narrower at some location than it
usually is. We call this narrowing a constriction. Consonants can be described in terms of the
location of the constriction, the manner of the constriction, and the type of phonation it supports
(see Clark and Yallop 1992: 76). In short, consonants are classified by place, manner, and
voicing as detailed below.
All consonants can be classified according to where in the vocal tract the modification of
the airstream takes place (the so-called place of articulation) and how exactly this modification is
carried out (the manner of articulation). As a third term in the description of speech sounds, we
can specify how active the vocal cords are: whether they vibrate (in voiced sounds) or not (in
voiceless sounds.) We classify consonants along three major dimensions:
place of articulation
manner of articulation
voicing
Places of articulation Place of articulation or the Place of Obstruction tells where the primary modification of the
airstream happens in the vocal track.In the classification system for consonants, “place” denotes the location or place of obstruction and the active organ of speech involved in the articulation stage of the production of the consonants Clark and Yallop (1992: 79).
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Bilabial: In a bilabial consonant, the lower and upper lips approach or touch each other.
English [p], [b], and [m] are bilabial stops.The sound [w] involves two constrictions of the vocal
tract made simultaneously. One of them is lip rounding, which you can think of as a bilabial
approximant.
Labio-dental: In a labiodental consonant, the lower lip approaches or touches the upper
teeth, like RP [f] and [v]
Interdental (or apico-dentals) are generated with the tip of the tongue protruded between the
lower and the upper teeth.-- still leaving enough space for a turbulent airstream to escape. This
kind of [θ] and [ð] is often called interdental.
Alveolar (or apico-alveolar sounds) are made by advancing the tip of the tongue toward
the alveolar ridge:, such as [t], [d], [n], [l], [s], [z].
In post-alveolar/ palato-‐alveolar consonants, the constriction is made immediately
behind the alveolar ridge. The constriction is be made with the blade of the tongue. The English
fricatives [ʃ] and [ʒ] are made at this place of articulation, as are the corresponding affricates [tʃ]
and [dʒ]. [ɹ] is another post-alveolar sound. It is always pronounced when it comes before a vowel
(Ready, Real). In a palatal, the blade of the tongue approaches or touches the hard palate. English [j] is a palatal
approximant -- the tongue body approaches the hard palate, but closely enough to create turbulence in the
airstream. In a velar consonant, the body of the tongue approaches or touches the soft palate, or velum.
English [k], [ɡ], and [ŋ] are stops made at this place of articulation. The [x] sound made at the end of the
German name Bach or the Scottish word loch is the voiceless fricative made at the velar place of articulation.
A glottal sound like [h], is produced by narrowing the glottis - the opening between the
Manners of articulation The manner of articulation (manner of air obstruction) is the second facet used in the
description of consonants. It describes the degree of freedom of the airflow; the type of
modification of the airstream; or the manner in which the flow of air is altered. It is concerned
with the degree or extent of the obstruction (Clark and Yallop 1992: 81). The modification
ranges from total obstruction of the airstream in the vocal tract to nearly open tract.
Sonorant consonants are produced with a relatively open expiratory passageway.
Sonorant sounds are sounds where the air stream passes unobstructed through the vocal tract.
The sonorant consonants include nasals, liquids, and glides. The sonorants are distinguished
from the obstruents which are characterized by a complete or narrow constriction between the
articulators hindering the expiratory airstream. The group of obstruent consonants includes stops,
the fricatives, and the affricates.
Table 1.
The 7 RP sonorant consonants with examples Sonorant Example
[m] Map
[n] Night
[ŋ] Thing
[l] Light
[ɹ] Red
[j] Yet
[w] Wet
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Plosives/stops: complete obstruction with sudden (explosive) release. The airstream is
totally blocked and then released with a small burst of noise. They are also defined as stops
because they cannot be prolonged. Stop or plosive are used to characterize the same sounds, yet
they refer to two distinct sub-processes in their production. During the production of stops/
plosives, complete occlusion of the expiratory air pressure (stop) is secured at specific point in
the vocal tract, and this obstruction is then suddenly released (plosive).
In sum, a stop consonant completely cuts off the airflow through the mouth. In the
consonants [t], [d], and [n], the tongue tip touches the alveolar ridge and cuts off the airflow at
that point. In [t] and [d], this means that there is no airflow at all for the duration of the stop. In
[n], there is no airflow through the mouth, but there is still airflow through the nose. We
distinguish between
Nasal stops, like [n], are often simply called nasals; they involve airflow through the
nose.
Oral stops, like [t] and [d], do not involve a total obstruction of the airflow.
Nasal vs. oral: Nasal consonants have a stoppage at some point in the oral cavity, and the velum
is lowered for the air to escape through the nasal cavity. However, there is complete occlusion
within the oral cavity between organ and place of articulation. These sounds have been called
nasal stops due to the closure in the oral cavity and the ensuing free air passage through the nasal
cavity (Ball and Rahilly, 1999). [m], [n], and [ŋ] are the nasal speech sounds of RP English.
Besides, oral stops can be either voiced or voiceless. Nasal stops are always voiced.
In the production of fricatives, the articulators come close together, the escaping
expiratory airstream causes an audible friction or turbulent airflow. The turbulence results in a
sound with a hissing or sibilant quality. Moreover, fricatives are all continuant consonants: they
can be continued for a long time. Two examples of fricatives are [ð ] and [v]. In a fricative
consonant, the articulators involved in the constriction approach get close enough to each other
to create a turbluent airstream. The fricatives of RP are [f], [v], [θ], [ð], [s], [z], [ʃ], and [ʒ].
Affricates, like the RP [tʃ] and [dʒ], are the two sounds that are produced via an initial
complete closure of the airstream (in the plosive sounds [t] and [d]), which is released through a
partial constriction producing the fricative sounds [ʃ] and [ʒ].
Approximants are sounds in which there is no complete, direct contact between organs
of speech. The approximants of English ([j], [w], [ɹ]) have spectra similar to vowels, but
acoustically weaker. RP approximants are subdivided into lateral [l]in which the airflow
manages to escape via the sides of the tongue and medial [w], [j], [ɹ] where the airflow escapes
through the middle of the tongue. ( Collins and Mees 2003)
Voicing At the phonation stage, the vocal folds may be in tight contact or held against each other
at just the right tension so that the air flowing past them from the lungs will cause them to vibrate
against each other. We call this process voicing. Sounds which are made with vocal fold
vibration are said to be voiced. Sounds made without vocal fold vibration are said to be
voiceless.
All English vowels and sonorant consonants are voiced. Besides, voicing constitutes the
main linguistically relevant differences that separate the consonant cognates such as [s] from [z]
or [f ] from [v]. There are several pairs of sounds in English which differ only in voicing and
these are:
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voiceless voiced
[p] [b]
[t] [d]
[k] [ɡ]
[f] [v]
[θ] [ð]
[s] [z]
[ʃ] [ʒ]
[tʃ] [dʒ]
Vowels The characterisation and classification of vowels is challenging. , unlike consonants,
vowels are produced without any specific point of blockage, and are commonly described
according to different parameters (see Crystal, 1987, for more). Clark and Yallop state that the
quality of vowels depends on the size and shape of the vocal tract. The major challenge is to
define the position of the tongue as it moves without forming any significant obstruction in the
oral cavity. As a result, vowels are defined following tongue fronting o advancement, tongue
height, tenseness and lip rounding.
1. Tongue fronting or advancement or the portion of the tongue that is
involved in the articulation. This dimension refers the horizontal movement of the
tongue, which could be front, back, or central.
2. Tongue height or the tongue’s position relative to the roof of the mouth.
Tongue height refers to the vertical movement of the tongue. It depicts the height of the
body of the tongue / how high or low the tongue is positioned in the mouth
3. The Shape of the Lips or the degree of lip rounding or unrounding.
4. Tenseness and Length: tense and lax refer to the degree of muscular
activity involved in the articulation and to the length of the vowels in question (Shriberg
and Kent, 2003). Tense vowels are considered to have relatively more muscle activity
and are longer in duration than lax vowels. Tense vowels are relatively higher and more
marginal, while lax are shorter, lower, and slightly more centralised.
Figure 1. RP pure vowels
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Tongue height (High /Low)
The highest vowels are [ɪ], [iː], [ʊ], [uː].
Mid vowels -[e], [ɔː], [ɜː], [ə]- with the tongue lowered to the mid position in the
oral cavity.
[æ], [ɒ], [ʌ], [ɑː] are low or open vowels produced with the tongue positioned as
low as possible in order to leave a lot of space for the airflow.
Tongue fronting or advancement (Front/Back):
Front vowels articulated with the tongue far forward in the oral cavity toward the
hard palate: [iː], [ɪ], [e], [æ].
Central vowels produced with the tongue retracted to the middle position in the
oral cavity: [ʌ], [ɜː], [ə].
Back vowels produced with the tongue retracted as far as possible to shape the
space in the front part of the oral cavity: [ɒ], [ɔː], [ʊ], [uː], [ɑː].
The Shape of the Lips (Lip rounding)
Rounded vowels, as the lips shape into a circle or a tube: [ʊ], [uː], [ɒ], [ɔː].
Unrounded vowels are produced with no lip rounding. They can be spread
vowels, as the corners of the lips are moved away from each other: [ɜː], [e], [iː],
[ɪ], [æ] or neutral vowels, the position of the lips is neither rounded nor spread as
in [ʌ] & [ə].
Tenseness and Length
Five vowels are long in duration and tense: [ɑː], [ɔː], [iː], [uː], [ɜː],
Seven vowels are short in duration and lax: [ʌ], [ɔ], [ɪ], [ʊ], [e], [æ], [ə].
Diphthongs
Diphthongs are vowels in which two vowel qualities can be perceived, and the
articulators move from the position of one vowel to the other. The first part of the diphthong is
longer and stronger than the second and is often referred to as the nucleus of the diphthong. The
second part is just a glide whose full formation is generally not accomplished. In the course of
the production of diphthongs, the organs of speech only move toward the articulation of the
glide, but they do not pronounce it fully. There are eight diphthongs in the RP accent:[eɪ], [aɪ],
[ɔɪ], [ɪə], [eə], [ʊə], [əʊ], [aʊ].
Diphthongs are usually grouped into the following two categories, depending on the height and
advancement of the tongue:
A centering diphtong ([ɪə], [eə], [ʊə) .involves the tongue’s movement from any positing
to the central vowel [ə]. (figure 2)
Diphthongs that glide toward a higher position in the mouth to reach the close sound [ɪ]
or [ʊ ] are known as closing diphthongs ([eɪ], [aɪ], [ɔɪ] ; [əʊ], [aʊ]). (Figure 3)
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Figure 2. RP centring diphthongs
Figure 3. RP closing diphthongs
Triphthongs The most complex type of vowels in RP is called triphthongs. These are sounds in which
three vowel qualities can be perceived as they glide from one vowel to another and then to a
third. Roach (2009: 19) describes triphthongs as “composed of the five closing diphthongs ([eɪ],
[aɪ], [ɔɪ] ; [əʊ], [aʊ]) with a schwa added on the end”.
[eɪə] as in player
[aɪə] as in higher
[ɔɪə] as in employer
[əʊə] as in lower
[aʊə] as in shower